CORPORATE CITIZEN CLAPS FOR AJAY MUNOT, A COVID-19 SURVIVOR & NINE TIMES PLASMA DONOR

The 50-year-old Pune-based social worker was struck by the coronavirus in July 2020 and post his recovery a month later, he decided to help others by donating his plasma. The marketing consultant has donated blood more than 40 times and is estimated to have recorded the maximum number of plasma donations in India since the pandemic outbreak. The Kothrud resident had donated plasma eight times previously as recorded on August 26th, September 9th, September 24th, October 12th, October 28th, December 31st and on January 21st and February 5th with his latest donation at the Sahyadri Hospital. “I had hoped to donate on my birthday when I turned 50, but I was told to wait as the last donation was on February 5th. There has to be a 14 day interval,” said Munot. “Bone marrow stimulation helped Munot maintain the stimulation of antibodies, considering all levels during the earlier eight procedures,” said Dr Purnima Rao, senior consultant with Sahyadri’s blood bank. His mother who has an ‘O’ negative blood group would get calls from the Army hospitals to donate blood, and this inspired Munot to learn about blood donation. “I have been a regular blood donor since the age of 20. My blood group is B positive and I have donated blood for more than 40 times. Fortunately, even today, I am fit for plasma donation and have enough neutralising antibodies in my blood,” he said. Dr Kapil Zirpe, intensivist and chest disease specialist at Ruby Hall Clinic, and a task force member of Pune city and Pune district, said the convalescent plasma therapy is not an evidence based therapy but is helpful only when given to Covid-19 patients when they start requiring oxygen but cannot be given when there is a higher dependency on oxygen or is on ventilator support. “The timing is very important in Covid-19 to save patients and with the right treatment at the right time, doctors can even bring the Covid-19 mortality below 1%,” he added.

CORPORATE CITIZEN SLAPS THE RISING COMPLACENCY POST-EASING OF COVID RELATED RESTRICTIONS NATIONWIDE AS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED IN A RECENT SURVEY BY COMMUNITY SOCIAL PLATFORM LOCALCIRCLES

The recent rise in Covid-19 cases has now been linked to the ‘complacency’ criteria as central health teams are trying to understand the reasons for its surge in Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. With India reaching the one crore vaccination mark, as per the Union Health Ministry, most people now assume that ‘Covid-19’ has been conquered. However, a case in point has been Amravati (Maharashtra), which was linked to the dangerous strain E484K known to evade the vaccine and neutralise antibodies. The survey assessed India’s adherence to masks and social distancing norms and to understand the propagation of new mutant strains, such as the B.1.1.7 (U.K strain), and B.1.351 (E484K) or the South African strain. The survey comprised of more than 8,000 citizens responses from across 238 districts in India and showed that people have dropped their guard in adhering to the mandatory Covid-19 preventive measures. Ironically, with the start of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, and the government’s lifting of lockdown restrictions, many have gone back to their pre-Covid lifestyle including vacations and mall visits, meeting friends and relatives and attending weddings and social functions while throwing all caution to the wind. Many companies have resumed work from the office and schools in many states have also re-opened for senior class students. Despite the gradual decline in Covid-19 cases in India since October, about 16% said there is not any compliance at all for both social distancing and wearing a mask. With 18% saying there is no compliance to social distancing, 22% said there is no compliance to social distancing and limited compliance to wearing a mask. While 2% said non compliance to wearing mask and limited compliance to social distancing, around 29% said that there is limited compliance to both wearing a mask and social distancing. Given the rise in new cases is being ‘un-masked’, an option at all?